Annual Award for a Significant Work in Botanical or Horticultural Literature

From medicinal, industrial, and culinary uses to cutting-edge laboratory techniques in modern research and plant conservation strategies, Natural Products from Plants, Second Edition reveals a vastly expanded understanding of the natural products that plants produce. In a single volume, this bookoffers a thorough inventory of the various types of plant-derived compounds. It covers their chemical composition, structure, and properties alongside the most effective ways to identify, extract, analyze, and characterize new plant-derived compounds.

The authors examine new information on the chemical mechanisms plants use to deter predators and pathogens, attract symbiotic organisms, and defend themselves against environmental stress—insights which are key for adapting such mechanisms to human health. Along with updated and revised information from the highly acclaimed first edition, the second edition presents seven new chapters and features more than 50% new material relating to plant constituents, natural product biochemistry, and molecular biology. The book incorporates in-depth treatment of natural product biosynthesis with new collection and extraction protocols, advanced separation and analytical techniques, up-to-date bioassays, as well as modern molecular biology and plant biotechnology for the production of natural products.

Unique in its breadth and coverage, Natural Products from Plants, Second Edition belongs on the shelf of interested researchers, policymakers, and consumers— particularly those involved in disease prevention, treatment, and pharmaceutical applications—who need a complete guide to the properties, uses, and study of plant natural products.

Про автора (2016)

James Alan Duke was born in Eastlake, Alabama on April 4, 1929. He learned to play the bass fiddle in high school and began performing with Homer Briarhopper and His Dixie Dudes. At the age of 16, Duke played on a record that the band cut in Nashville. He received bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in botany from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He did postdoctoral work as a professor at Washington University in St. Louis and curatorial work at the Missouri Botanical Gardens there. He worked for the Department of Agriculture eventually becoming the head of the Medicinal Plant Laboratory. He was a pioneer in ethnobotany and phytochemicals. He wrote numerous books including The Green Pharmacy: New Discoveries in Herbal Remedies for Common Diseases and Conditions from the World's Foremost Authority on Healing Herbs, Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, and The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America written with Steven Foster. After retiring from the Agriculture Department, he occasionally conducted tours along the Amazon River and gave tours of his herb farm the Green Farmacy Garden. He died on December 10, 2017 at the age of 88.